In 2017, the Government introduced world-leading legislation that made it statutory for organisations with 250 or more employees to report annually on their gender pay gap. Government departments are covered by the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 that came into force on 31 March 2017. These regulations underpin the Public Sector Equality Duty and require relevant organisations to publish their gender pay gap by 30 March annually. This includes the mean and median gender pay gaps; the mean and median gender bonus gaps; the proportion of men and women who received bonuses; and the proportions of male and female employees in each pay quartile.

The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce. If a workforce has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate there may be a number of issues to deal with, and the individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are.

The gender pay gap is different to equal pay. Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value. It is unlawful to pay people unequally because they are a man or a woman.

### Difference in hourly rate

Women’s mean hourly rate is **0.80% lower** than men’s

Women’s median hourly rate is **4.94% higher** than men’s

### Proportion of women in each pay quartile

| Quartile | Women | Men | |---------------------------|-------|-----| | **Top quartile (highest paid)** | 45.74% | | | **Upper middle quartile** | 58.46% | | Who received bonus pay

21.54% of women 22.48% of men

Difference in bonus pay

Women’s mean bonus pay is 10.64% higher than men’s Women’s median bonus pay is 0% lower than men’s

What our data shows

The mean difference in hourly rate suggests that we have a gender pay gap in favour of men that is near zero and this is virtually unchanged on last year. The median difference indicates a larger gap in favour of women, and this has increased by 2.96% on last year.

The proportion of women in each quartile helps to explain this. There are more men in the lowest quartile and there are more women in both the middle quartiles. This has the effect of increasing the middle or median value for women. Our lowest grade, in which roles are generally more physical in nature, is mostly undertaken by men.

The mean bonus pay for women is higher than for men because a bonus was paid to a member of the Senior Civil Service. If this bonus were not paid, the mean difference in bonus pay would be 0%.

Action we are taking

The main factors we believe influence our relatively low gender pay gap are the availability of flexible working patterns, in particular those that do not have an impact on pay such as compressed hours and the ability to work from home. These are popular with those returning from maternity or with caring responsibilities. In addition, we operate 'blind recruitment' at the application stage and offer all roles with the option of flexible working to ensure an inclusive recruitment experience.

We hold moderation meetings to guard against discrimination or favouritism and to help ensure all markings are fair and consistent. We are continuing to develop our diversity and inclusion training and awareness weeks and offer wellbeing initiatives throughout the year. Our Employee Assistance Programme, which is well used by our employees, gives advice and support on a range of issues and provides a professional counselling service.